Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus!
The Offspring is a terrifying new creature that is introduced in 2024’sAlien: Romulus, and here are eight key details about the alien’s design that you may have missed. For most of the film’s runtime,Alien: Romulusis concerned with making the Xenomorphs its main antagonist, with Rain, Andy, and the rest of theAlien: Romuluscast facing off against them while on board theRomulusspace station. However, the final act ofAlien: Romulusintroduces an all-new creature known as The Offspring, and the brief appearance of the monster features all kinds of connections to the widerAlienfranchise.
ThroughoutAlien: Romulus, it is mentioned that Kay is pregnant, a detail about theAlien: Romuluscharacter that doesn’t come back into play until the end of the film.Alien: Romulusbrings back the black goo fromPrometheus, with this being behind The Offspring’s creation. After being mortally wounded, Kay decides to use the black goo to save herself. This leads to her baby evolving within her, with Kay giving birth to a disgusting cocoon that contains The Offspring. The Offspring has a terrifying design, with theAlien: Romulusmonster featuring these eight design details.
8The Offspring’s Height
It Is Over 7 Feel Tall
One of the most apparent things about The Offspring inAlien: Romulusis its height.Despite starting out as a baby, it quickly evolves into a much taller version of itself, with it towering over Rain throughout their final battle. In the film, The Offspring is 7 feet and 7 inches tall, showing that the monster is far taller than the average human. This makes the creature all the more threatening, with it being much bigger than Xenomorphs, the Engineers, and other foes that have been met throughout theAlienfranchise.
Who Is The Father Of Kay’s Baby In Alien: Romulus?
Kay’s pregnancy is a key plot point in Alien: Romulus, but she never actually names the father of the baby. So, who is the Offspring’s dad?
Much of The Offspring’s height is thanks to the actor who played it inAlien: Romulus. Basketball playerRobert Bobroczkyi is inside The Offspring’s costume, with the athlete being 7'7" in real life. Bobroczkyi was chosen for the role due to his towering stature, allowing for a much more realistic creature of that height to be made. Not much had to be added to The Offspring in order for the monster to reach this height and scale, with Robert Bobroczkyi having roughly the same proportions as the final boss inAlien: Romulus.
7The Offspring’s Tail
It Is Just Like The Xenomorphs'
Another notable aspect of The Offspring’s design inAlien: Romulusis the creature’s tail. Despite The Offspring having some human attributes that are visible in its design, the tail is far removed from what Kay’s baby would have otherwise looked like, with this addition being purely a product of the black goo’s evolution. The Offspring’s massive tail hangs down from its pelvis all the way to the ground, making it quite long when considering the alien’s height. It then curls back up into the air, with the appendage seeming prehensile.
The Offspring’s tail looks almost exactly like the tails that are seen on the Xenomorphsthroughout theAlienfranchise, with the biggest departure in its design being the color. Much like the Xenomorph, the Offspring’s tail seems bony, with it being made up of tons of different segments rather than being completely smooth. On top of that, The Offspring’s tail ends in a massive spike. This allows it to use its tail as a weapon, with it having the ability to stab prey in the same way that the Xenomorph can.
6The Offspring’s Evolving Face
It Changes Throughout Alien: Romulus' Ending
ThroughoutThe Offspring’s appearance inAlien: Romulus, its face evolves multiple times, with this being one of the scariest aspects of the monster. When The Offspring is first seen, it is coming out of its cocoon, with the acidic blood causing it to melt through the floor. Before it falls, the audience can briefly see The Offspring’s face, with it looking like a relatively normal baby face.
When Rain sees The Offspring again, it is a completely different story. While The Offspring’s face does look more human than Xenomorph, its odd proportions and stretched-out facial features make it look a bit uncanny. The monster’s black eyes and sharp teeth make it look threatening, although it looks a bit pitiful when it does some facial expressions. As the fight goes on, however, The Offspring’s face becomes more and more monstrous, with it splitting open and becoming increasingly scary.
The Offspring inAlien: Romulusis actually incredibly similar to The Newborn fromAlien: Resurrection. Much like The Offspring,The Newborn is a hybrid of human and Xenomorph, with it having human eyes and other facial features mixed in with a Xenomorph head.
5The Offpsring’s Claws
One Of The Monster’s Biggest Weapons
Another weapon that is at The Offspring’s disposal is its claws,another aspect that makes the monster incredibly dangerous. The Offspring’s lanky arms end in massive hands that, while they look human, are far larger than the hands of Rain or Kay. At the end of each of the long fingers is a sharp claw, with The Offspring using them to slash at Rain throughout their battle.
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These claws are also reminiscent of the claws that can be seen on the hands of the Xenomorphs, with this being another way in which the Xenomorph’s DNA has influenced the DNA of Kay’s baby. This most likely means that these claws are one of the natural evolutionary endpoints that the black goo fromPrometheusoften reaches, as it has been seen on several of the aliens from the franchise.
4The Offspring’s Back Holes
Their Purpose Is Never Explained
One of the oddest parts of The Offspring’s design is its back, something that can only briefly be seen throughout its appearance inAlien: Romulus. The Offspring has four holes on its back, with them remaining open throughout its appearance and presumably being direct paths to the inside of the monster. The reason for these back holes is never explained inAlien: Romulus, with their pale skin and the fact that they are on a humanoid body making them incredibly creepy.
These back holes aren’t unique to The Offspring, however. In fact, they can also be seen on every Xenomorph. These holes were part of the original Xenomorph design, with some of the concept art showing tubes coming out of them and connecting them to walls and other goopy substances. Thefunction of the back holes and Xenomorph tubeshave never been explained in theAlienfranchise, although they are the subject of much discussion. The Offspring is never seen having tubes in its back, making these holes even more mysterious.
3The Offspring’s Damage
How Does Rain Kill The Alien?
As Rain fights The Offspring throughoutAlien: Romulus,the creature becomes increasingly more damaged, with this continuing until its death as they are abandoning theRomulusspace station. As it fights Rain, black goo begins to emerge from The Offspring’s mouth. This seems like it is meant to be blood, although it doesn’t appear to be acidic, something that is one of the defining traits ofAlien’s Xenomorph.
On top of that, The Offspring gets various wounds across its body, making the monster appear even creepier. Despite its stature, it seems to be more easily damaged than the Xenomorph, with this either being a product of The Offspring’s youth or its human DNA. Luckily,The Offspring is finally killed by Rainwhen it falls into the cargo bay of the ship. Rain then ejects the Cargo Pod, with The Offspring falling into the same planetary rings that destroy theRomulusspace station.
2The Offspring’s Baby Form
It Is Born In A Cocoon
Although The Offspring is mostly seen in its larger form in the final act ofAlien: Romulus, this isn’t the only form that the creature takes in the film. In fact, the audience briefly gets to seeThe Offspring as a baby, with it then disappearing before reemerging in its full monster form. As it is being born, The Offspring severely damages Kay. Instead of being born as a baby, Kay gives birth to a cocoon, one that looks like the pods that the Xenomorphs emerge out of throughoutAlien: Romulus.
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Upon being born,the cocoon opens up, spilling out a strange liquid. This liquid turns out to be acidic, much like the blood of the Xenomorph. The acid burns through the ground of the ship, allowing the cocoon to fall into the cargo bay. When it opens, the audience is offered a brief glimpse at the baby Offspring. The Offspring’s baby form looks fairly human, with the black goo presumably taking a major toll on it during the period in which the monster is offscreen.
1The Offspring’s Engineer Connections
They Could Be Due To The Black Goo’s Influence
While The Offspring are clearly meant to be a mix of humans and Xenomorphs, they also share a lot of attributes with another species: the Engineers.The Engineers are a species of aliensthat were first introduced inPrometheus, with the Engineers being the ones who first made the black goo. Although they weren’t evolved by the black goo, with David even killing many Engineers with it inAlien: Covenant, some did attempt to use it, potentially creating a connection between the Engineers and the black goo’s evolutionary patterns.
The Offspring has the same pale-colored skin as the Engineers, with that being the first connection. The Offspring also has a bald head and hairless body, another attribute that is shared with the Engineers. Most notably, however, the Offspring and the Engineers both have large black eyes, suggesting a connection between thePrometheuscharacters and the final alien inAlien: Romulus.
Alien: Romulus
Cast
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
